Spanish Present Subjunctive – Conjugation and Uses of this Tense

The Present Subjunctive (“Presente del Subjuntivo”) is a verb tense in Spanish. It belongs to the Subjunctive Mood. We use in some types of sentences which express subjectivity: desire, doubt, emotion…

The Present Subjunctive is usually taught in intermediate/advanced level courses, after the student already has a good grasp of all Indicative tenses.

In this lesson we will learn all about the Spanish Present Subjunctive, both the conjugation of verbs, and the types of sentences where we use it, providing examples.

1. Conjugation of verbs in Present Subjunctive

Endings

The first thing we need to learn are the endings used for each person. Luckily, these endings apply to both Regular and Irregular Verbs.

The following table shows the endings used for verbs in “-AR”, and the endings for verbs in “-ER” and “-IR”:

Subject Pronoun

Verbs ending in -AR

Verbs ending in -ER, -IR

yo

-e

-a

tú

-es

-as

él

-e

-a

nosotros

-emos

-amos

vosotros

-éis

-áis

ellos

-en

-an

Regular Verbs

Here are 3 regular verbs in Present Subjunctive, where we observe the endings we just learned:

hablar

comer

vivir

yo

hable

coma

viva

tú

hables

comas

vivas

él

hable

coma

viva

nosotros

hablemos

comamos

vivamos

vosotros

habléis

comáis

viváis

ellos

hablen

coman

vivan

Irregular Verbs

For verbs that are irregular in Present Subjunctive, the endings are the same as for the regulars, but the stem presents some small change.

Identifying irregular verbs is easy: any verb with an irregular “yo” form in Present Indicative (the normal Present Tense you already know so well 🙂 ), is irregular in Present Subjunctive.

Depending on the type of verb, the irregularity will be different. Let’s see a list of all possible irregularities, with examples:

Types of Irregularities

1) Verbs ending in “-AR”, “-ER” where an “E” becomes “IE” for the person “yo” in Present Indicative, has that same irregularity in Present Subjunctive for all persons, except for “nosotros” and “vosotros”:

"yo" form in Present Indicative

Present Subjunctive

pensar

pienso

piense, pienses, piense, pensemos, penséis, piensen

perder

pierdo

pierda, pierdas, pierda, perdamos, perdáis, pierdan

2)Verbs ending in “IR” where an “E” becomes “IE” for the person “yo” in Present Indicative, has that same irregularity in Present Subjunctive for all persons, except for “nosotros” and “vosotros”, where “E” becomes “I”:

"yo" form in Present Indicative

Present Subjunctive

preferir

prefiero

prefiera, prefieras, prefiera, prefiramos, prefiráis, prefieran

sentir

siento

sienta, sientas, sienta, sintamos, sintáis, sientan

3) Verbs where an “E” that becomes “I” for the person “yo” in Present Indicative, has that same irregularity in Present Subjunctive, for all persons:

"yo" form in Present Indicative

Present Subjunctive

pedir

pido

pida, pidas, pida, pidamos, pidáis, pidan

repetir

repito

repita, repitas, repita, repitamos, repitáis, repitan

4) Verbs where an “O” becomes “UE” for the person “yo” in Present Indicative, has that same irregularity in Present Subjunctive, for all persons except for “nosotros” and “vosotros”:

"yo" form in Present Indicative

Present Subjunctive

contar

cuento

cuente, cuentes, cuente, contemos, contéis, cuenten

poder

puedo

pueda, puedas, pueda, podamos, podáis, puedan

5) An exception to case 4), “Dormir” and “Morir”: apart from “O” becoming “UE” for the other persons, “O” becomes “U”for “nosotros” and “vosotros”:

"yo" form in Present Indicative

Present Subjunctive

dormir

duermo

duerma, duermas, duerma, durmamos, durmáis, duerman

morir

muero

muera, mueras, muera, muramos, muráis, mueran

6) For the verb “Jugar”, the “U” becomes “UE” for all persons except “nosotros” and “vosotros”, and also the “G” becomes “GU”:

"yo" form in Present Indicative

Present Subjunctive

jugar

juego

juegue, juegues, juegue, juguemos, juguéis, jueguen

7) Verbs where a “C” becomes “ZC” for the person “yo” in Present Indicative, present that same irregularity in Present Subjunctive, for all persons:

"yo" form in Present Indicative

Present Subjunctive

conocer

conozco

conozca, conozcas, conozca, conozcamos, conozcáis, conozcan

traducir

traduzco

traduzca, traduzcas, traduzca, traduzcamos, traduzcáis, traduzcan

8) Verbs whose “yo” form in Present Indicative ends in “GO”, form the Present Subjunctive with “GA”:

"yo" form in Present Indicative

Present Subjunctive

hacer

hago

haga, hagas, haga, hagamos, hagáis, hagan

tener

tengo

tenga, tengas, tenga, tengamos, tengáis, tengan

9) For verbs whose Infinitive ends in “UIR”, “I” becomes “Y” :

"yo" form in Present Indicative

"yo" form in Present Indicative

influir

influyo

influya, influyas, influya, influyamos, influyáis, influyan

intuir

intuyo

intuya, intuyas, intuya, intuyamos, intuyáis, intuyan

Very Irregular Verbs

Finally, here are 7 very irregular verbs that don’t fit into any of the previous types:

dar

estar

ir

dé

esté

vaya

des

estés

vayas

dé

esté

vaya

demos

estemos

vayamos

deis

estéis

vayáis

den

estén

vayan

saber

ser

ver

sepa

sea

vea

sepas

seas

veas

sepa

sea

vea

sepamos

seamos

veamos

sepáis

seáis

veáis

sepan

sean

vean

haber

haya

hayas

haya

hayamos

hayáis

hayan

Spelling Changes

Whether a verb is regular or irregular, it might also present spelling changes at the end of its stem, for pronunciation reasons.

For example, take the verb “marcar”. That verb is fundamentally regular, but it still requires a change for all persons: the “C” must become “QU”, so that it keeps the “k” sound and maintains a consistent pronunciation.

Here are some examples of spelling changes:

coger (g → j)

coja, cojas, coja, cojamos, cojáis, cojan

marcar (c → qu)

marque, marques, marque, marquemos, marquéis, marquen

pagar (g → gu)

pague, pagues, pague, paguemos, paguéis, paguen

seguir (gu → g)

siga, sigas, siga, sigamos, sigáis, sigan

utilizar (z → c)

utilice, utilices, utilice, utilicemos, utilicéis, utilicen

vencer (c→ z)

venza, venzas, venza, venzamos, venzáis, venzan

2. Uses of the Present Subjunctive

We use the Present Subjunctive in certain types of sentences that express subjectivity: desire, doubt, emotion…

Unfortunately, that idea is not enough to master its use, because the types of sentences where we use it are very specific. The Spanish student shouldlearn each specific type of sentence where we use the Present Subjunctive.

Most times the Present Subjunctive appears in dependent clauses, usually after a relative pronoun such as “que”.

Here are the most frequent cases:

Sentence types where we use the Present Subjunctive

1) After verbs that express a wish or preference (“querer, esperar, necesitar, desear, preferir, tener ganas de…”), when they are in Present Tense and followed by the relative pronoun “que”…, then the next verb in the dependent clause is in Present Subjunctive:

2)In sentences where we wish something to someone starting directly with “que”, the next verb is in Present Subjunctive:

Quetengas buen viaje.Have a nice trip!

Que lo paséis bien.You guys have fun!

3) After “ojalá” or “ojalá que”, when they express a wish that seems realistic to fulfill, the next verb is in Present Subjunctive:

Ojaláganemos el partido.Let’s hope we win the match.

Ojalá que ellos tomen la decisión correcta.Let’s hope they make the right choice.

4) After verbs that express a feeling or personal taste (“gustar, interesar, sorprender, preocupar, molestar, dar miedo…”) when they are in Present Tense and followed by the relative pronoun “que”…, then the next verb is in Present Subjunctive:

No me gusta quehables así.I don’t like that you speak that way.

Nos da miedo que nos ataquen.We are scared that they might attack us.

5) After these phrases that express a degree of probability: “posiblemente, probablemente, tal vez, quizás, puede que, es posible que, es probable que”, the next verb can be in Present Subjunctive:

Quizásvayamos a Ecuador en verano.Maybe we’ll go to Ecuador in the Summer.

7) After expressions that assess or value something, using this structure: es + adjective + que…

Es bueno que vosotros digáis la verdad.It’s good for you guys to tell the truth.

Es importante que sepamos la verdad.It’s important for us to know the truth.

8) After verbs in Present Tense that express a plea, an order or an advice (“pedir, rogar, ordenar, aconsejar, prohibir…”) when they are in Present Tense and followed by the relative pronoun “que”…, then the next verb is in Present Subjunctive:

Te aconsejo que lo investigues.I advise you to investigate it.

Mis padres me prohiben quesalga de noche.My parent’s prohibit that I go out at night.